Derek Starling Bio Info

Derek "Bubba" Starling resides in Gardner, Kan., during the offseason...Graduated from Gardner-Edgerton (Kan.) High School in 2011...hit a combined 17 home runs over his final two prep seasons, batting .481 as a senior...selected First Team Rawlings Preseason All-America in 2011...Ranked by Baseball America as the No. 1 high school prospect and the best high school athlete in the 2011 draft...played for Team USA's Under-18 squad in 2010, batting .339 with a .474 on-base percentage...also competed at the 2010 Tournament of Stars and the Under Armour All-America Game...A three-sport star in high school, he rushed for 2,471 yards and 31 touchdowns as a senior quarterback and was also an all-state honoree in basketball...Bypassed an opportunity to play football and baseball at the University of Nebraska when he signed with the Royals.

2016

Split the season between Northwest Arkansas (AA) and Omaha (AAA), hit .183 (73-for-399) with 23 doubles, a triple, seven homers and 40 RBI in 109 games combined...Promoted to Omaha on July 2, going 10-for-34 (.294) with a homer and five runs scored in his first 10 games...Recorded his first multi-homer game since 2012 on April 10 vs. Midland, blasting a pair of two-run shots...Tabbed the No. 3 prospect in the Royals' organization by Baseball America prior to the season.

2015

Bubba spent a majority of the year at Northwest Arkansas (AA), after opening the year at Wilmington (A-Advanced)...Hit a combined .269 with 23 doubles, four triples and 12 homers between his two stops...tied for 11th in the Texas League with his four triples, while his .744 OPS would have ranked in the top 20 if he had enough at-bats to qualify... Batted .333 (33-for-99) with seven doubles, two triples and three homers in July...had a season-best 12-game hitting streak from June 26 to July 11, where he hit .340 (16-for-47)...Hit for the cycle on July 28 at Arkansas, going 4-for-5 with three RBI and three runs scored in a 10-4 Naturals victory...Participated in all six of Northwest Arkansas' postseason games, batting .211 with a homer and four runs scored...Played in 22 games for Surprise in the Arizona Fall League, batting .274 with two doubles, four homers and 10 RBI.